Archetypal Wizards

[pawsplay]

D&D came by its wizards via Jack Vance. The same swords-and-sorcery literary tradition also gave us Howard and Moorcock's chaotic, reality-bending sorcerers. I think you can also thank Walt Disney for a good deal of what we consider a wizard. If you look at classic wizards, most of them would be not be wizards in D&D at all.

Merlin - Merlin is properly a druid or bard. In fact, if you read the older sources, he mostly prophesizes and changes his appearance, which would make him a very knowledge-focused member of the 3.5 Bard class. If you go by the Disney version, he looks more like a Sorcerer, spontaneous and insanely powerful, and taking full advantage of the Shapechange spell. Someone more knowledgeable will have to say what he would be in D&D 4e. I'm betting Wizard isn't it, though. Note also that in many versions, he is half demon but baptized, which would make him a half-fiend/cambion/something, technically.

Gandalf - Gandalf the Wizard. Of course, he's actually a powerful angel/deva who merely appears somewhat human. Assuming most of his amazing powers are actually class abilities and not angelic might, he looks most like a 3.5 Cleric or a 4e Invoker. Like many classic "wizards," he is handy with a sword.

Prospero - This magician from The Tempest uses a summoned spirit of the air to do his bidding and uses special robes and rituals to cast spells. No fireballs here. In 3.5, he might be a conjurer or a sorcerer, but in terms of his actual abilities, is probably a 3.5 cleric with the Summoning domain or a 4e Warlock/Invoker/something-not-a-wizard.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Merlin? Definitely a lot of Druid...heck, MOSTLY Druid. However, I'm pretty sure he'd have some arcane power at his disposal as well, given his use of illusion and enchantment upon others. The question would be would it be because he was knowledgeable from all of his research (a Wizard), or is it because of his semi-infernal heritage (Sorcerer).

Tim the Enchanter...is a Sorcerer. No question.

Since he doesn't do his summonings with the aid of any divine entity, as I recall, Prospero is definitely someone I'd consider a pure Conjuror, and thus, a Wizard. Probably a Focused Specialist, FWIW.

Sparrowhawk/Ged of Earthsea is a Truenamer with the power of a Wizard.

Moorcock's spellcasters would be like Binders or Truenamers in D&D...at least as to the source of their powers, but they're much more powerful than either. That their knowledge of names and such comes from research makes them Wizards...but they rarely cast anything beyond simple enchantments or powerful summonings.

In fact, a lot of classic spellcasters combine knowing Truenames, forging Pacts with powerful beings and doing a lot of summoning...

 

[El Mahdi]

What I think of as an archetypal wizard would be more like the Jedi from Star Wars. They seem a better fit with Gandalf also, IMO. Jack Vances stories are cool, as is his concept of magic - but for me, it doesn't mesh well with my image of a "classical" wizard either.

I think D&D's original wizards were kind of a hybrid of the classical wizard and Jack Vance's concept of magic.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I suppose the other really outstanding wizards from myth and fantasy are Harry Potter; Sparrowhawk; Circe; Morgan le Fay; the witch from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; Dr Strange; The Wizard Of Oz; Solomon; Hermes Trismegistus and Aleister Crowley (who was real but he's storied enough to have become a legend, like Elvis Presley).